Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
- 6 years ago
Obstruction Inquiry Shows Trump’s Struggle to Keep Grip on Russia Investigation
The lawyer, Uttam Dhillon, was convinced that if Mr. Comey was fired, the Trump presidency could be imperiled,
because it would force the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Mr. Trump was trying to derail the Russia investigation.
Legal experts said that of the two primary issues Mr. Mueller appears to be investigating — whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice while in office
and whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — there is currently a larger body of public evidence tying the president to a possible crime of obstruction.
Mr. Comey had told Mr. Trump in private that he was not personally under investigation, yet Mr. Comey infuriated
Mr. Trump by refusing to answer a question about that at the hearing where he spoke publicly.
WASHINGTON — President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing
himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election.
The president’s determination to fire Mr. Comey even led one White House lawyer to take the extraordinary
step of misleading Mr. Trump about whether he had the authority to remove him.
has also learned that four days before Mr. Comey was fired, one of Mr. Sessions’s aides asked a congressional staff
member whether he had damaging information about Mr. Comey, part of an apparent effort to undermine the F. B.I.
Sessions is one of several previously unreported episodes
that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has learned about as he investigates whether Mr. Trump obstructed the F. B.I.’s Russia inquiry.
The lawyer, Uttam Dhillon, was convinced that if Mr. Comey was fired, the Trump presidency could be imperiled,
because it would force the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Mr. Trump was trying to derail the Russia investigation.
Legal experts said that of the two primary issues Mr. Mueller appears to be investigating — whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice while in office
and whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — there is currently a larger body of public evidence tying the president to a possible crime of obstruction.
Mr. Comey had told Mr. Trump in private that he was not personally under investigation, yet Mr. Comey infuriated
Mr. Trump by refusing to answer a question about that at the hearing where he spoke publicly.
WASHINGTON — President Trump gave firm instructions in March to the White House’s top lawyer: stop the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing
himself in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s associates had helped a Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 election.
The president’s determination to fire Mr. Comey even led one White House lawyer to take the extraordinary
step of misleading Mr. Trump about whether he had the authority to remove him.
has also learned that four days before Mr. Comey was fired, one of Mr. Sessions’s aides asked a congressional staff
member whether he had damaging information about Mr. Comey, part of an apparent effort to undermine the F. B.I.
Sessions is one of several previously unreported episodes
that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has learned about as he investigates whether Mr. Trump obstructed the F. B.I.’s Russia inquiry.